JP5495802B2 - Image processing apparatus, image processing apparatus control method, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus that prints an image using transparent toner, a control method for the image processing apparatus, and a program.

  In recent years, there are image processing apparatuses that perform multicolor printing using special toners as well as full color printing by electrophotographic printing using four color toners of CMYBk.

  Examples of the special toner include a transparent toner that can absorb unevenness on the surface of a printed material and achieve high gloss, and a light toner that can suppress roughness of a highlight portion. By using such special toner, a new added value different from normal digital printing can be obtained. Due to the above background, an image processing apparatus such as an MFP in which special toner is mounted has been used.

  As a technique related to the transparent toner, Patent Document 1 describes a technique for discriminating a non-character photo area of a printed image by an image area separation technique and automatically placing the transparent toner on the discriminated non-character photo area. ing. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 describes a technique for displaying a preview of which range of image data transferred from a host computer is to be printed with transparent toner.

JP 2007-034040 A JP 2008-145784 A

  However, in the conventional technology, when the transparent toner is partially placed on the image and printed out, the user cannot easily change the range where the transparent toner is placed.

  For example, Patent Document 1 describes that a transparent toner is automatically placed on a non-character photo area, but there is no particular mention regarding a user changing and specifying the range.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 describes that the range on which the transparent toner is placed is displayed, but does not particularly refer to the user changing and designating the range. For example, it is considered that the range can be changed by regenerating the image of the area to be printed with the transparent toner on the host computer, but it is convenient in an environment where the host computer does not exist near the image processing apparatus. Is not good.

  For example, when an unspecified number of users use an image processing apparatus such as a convenience store, a range in which the user can easily put transparent toner, especially when the transparent toner is partially printed on an image and printed out. Is required to change.

  An object of the present invention is to solve such conventional problems. In view of the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus, a control method for the image processing apparatus, and a program that easily change an area to be printed using transparent toner.

In order to solve the above problems, an image processing apparatus according to the present invention includes an input unit that inputs image data, an identification unit that identifies a plurality of areas included in the image data input by the input unit, and the identification of the identified plurality of regions by means of the first setting means for setting so as to print using the recording material of the transparent in the area specified by the user, the plurality of regions identified by the identification means among them, a specifying unit, among the plurality of regions identified by the identification means, a transparent recording material in an area excluding the area specified by the specifying means used to identify the size of smaller area of the predetermined reference The second setting means for setting to print and the first setting means, or the second setting means is set to print using the transparent recording material Characterized in that it comprises control means for controlling to print using the transparent recording material band, a.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to easily change the area to be printed using the transparent toner.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the system containing an image processing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the internal structure of an image processing apparatus. It is a figure which shows the structure of the data processing part shown in FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of processing for setting a transparent toner area in a copy function. It is a figure explaining the production | generation of the preview image data by a copy function. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a screen for setting a transparent toner area in a copy function. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of processing for setting a transparent toner area in a print function. It is a figure explaining the production | generation of the preview image data by a print function. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a procedure of processing for setting a transparent toner area in the media print function. It is a figure which shows the display of the thumbnail image in a media print function. It is a figure explaining the production | generation of the preview image data in a media print function. It is a figure which shows a screen when many small display areas are included.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the following embodiments do not limit the present invention according to the claims, and all combinations of features described in the present embodiments are not necessarily essential to the solution means of the present invention. . The same constituent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof is omitted.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a system including an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. A PC 102, a print server 103, and an image processing apparatus (hereinafter referred to as MFP) 104 are connected to the network 101. The PC 102 transfers print image data in a page description language (PDL) format to the print server 103 or the MFP 104 when the MFP 104 performs a printing operation. The print server 103 spools the PDL format print image received from the PC 102 and sequentially transfers it to the MFP 104. In the printing system, a print image in the PDL format spooled from the PC 102 to the print server 103 is transferred to the MFP 104 according to an instruction from the MFP 104, and printing processing is started. The MFP 104 is a multifunction peripheral device equipped with a print function, a media print function, a copy function, a Send function, and the like.

  The print function is a function that interprets PDL format print image data received from a PC or print server, develops it into a raster image, and prints it out from a printer. The media print function is a function that allows image data stored in an external storage device such as an SD card or USB memory connected to the MFP to be developed into a raster image and printed out from a printer. The copy function is a function that can process an image captured from an image scanner and print it out from a printer. The Send function is a function capable of converting image data captured from an image scanner into an image file in Tiff or PDF format and transferring it to a PC, a file server, or the like.

(MFP)
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an internal configuration of the MFP 104. In FIG. 2, an image scanner (image reading unit) 201 reads a document image and performs digital signal processing on the read image data. The printer 202 prints the image data read by the image scanner 201 on a recording medium (such as paper) in full color, for example.

  The image scanner 201 includes a specular pressure plate 200. A document 204 on a platen glass (hereinafter referred to as a platen) 203 is irradiated with a lamp 205, and the reflected light is guided by mirrors 206, 207, and 208. The reflected light forms an image on a three-line solid-state image sensor (hereinafter referred to as CCD) 210 by a lens 209, and three images of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) as full color information. A signal is sent to the data processing unit 211. The lamp 205 and the mirror 206 are mechanically moved in a direction perpendicular to the electric scanning (main scanning) direction of the line sensor at a speed v and the mirrors 207 and 208 are at a speed 1 / 2v. As a result, the entire document can be scanned (sub-scanned). Here, the document 204 is read at a resolution of 600 dpi (dots / inch) in both the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction. The read image signal is stored in a data storage unit (not shown) inside the data processing unit 211 in units of one page of the document.

  In the data processing unit 211, the image signal stored therein is electrically processed in units of pixels, and is decomposed into magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), and black (Bk) components. Send to printer 202. Further, inside the data processing unit 211, an image signal (CL) of a transparent component is generated in units of pixels and is similarly sent to the printer 202. The sent M, C, Y, Bk, and CL image signals are sent to the laser driver 212. The laser driver 212 modulates and drives the semiconductor laser 213 in accordance with the transmitted image signal. The laser beam scans on the photosensitive drum 217 via the polygon mirror 214, the f / θ lens 215, and the mirror 216. As in the case of reading, writing is performed at a resolution of 600 dpi (dots / inch) in both the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction.

  The rotary developing device 218 includes a magenta developing unit 219, a cyan developing unit 220, a yellow developing unit 221, a black developing unit 222, and a clear (transparent) developing unit 223. The five developing units 219 to 223 alternately come into contact with the photosensitive drum 217, and the electrostatic development formed on the photosensitive drum is developed with toner of each color. The transfer drum 224 winds the paper supplied from the paper cassette 225 or the paper cassette 226 around the transfer drum 224, and transfers the image developed on the photosensitive drum onto the paper.

  As described above, after the CMYBk and clear (transparent) toners are sequentially transferred, the sheet is discharged after passing through the fixing unit 227 and fixing the toner. Further, the sheet can be discharged after being printed again through the above process without being discharged. The UI operation unit 228 is a touch panel and performs transparent toner mode setting, preview display, and the like, which will be described later.

(Data processing part)
FIG. 3A is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the data processing unit 211 of the MFP 104. A scanner I / F 301 is an interface for inputting image data captured by the image scanner 201. A printer I / F 302 is an interface for transferring image data processed by the data processing unit 211 to the printer 202. The network I / F 303 is an interface for receiving PDL format print image data transferred from the PC 102 or the print server 103, or transferring image data converted into Tiff or PDF files to the PC 102 by the data processing unit 211. It is. The UI operation unit I / F 304 is an interface for performing communication with the UI operation unit 228. The PDL processing unit 305 interprets print image data in the PDL format received from the PC 102 or the print server 103, and generates raster image data. The compression / decompression processing unit 306 performs JPEG compression / decompression on the raster image data.

  The ROM 307 stores a control program executed by the data processing unit 211, and the CPU 309 reads it from the ROM 307 and executes it. The RAM 308 stores the received print image data and raster image data in the PDL format. The image processing unit 310 performs various image processing necessary for the print function, copy function, and send function. In addition to rotation, scaling, thinning, and Tiff / PDF file generation, the image processing unit performs transparent toner processing, composition processing, and the like. The image area separation unit 311 performs image area separation (or area division) processing on the raster image data, and separates into a plurality of types of areas such as a photographic area and a character area. The external I / F 312 is an interface for transferring an image file or the like from an external storage device such as an SD card or a USB memory.

(Image processing unit)
FIG. 3B is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the image processing unit 310. The receiving unit 401 receives raster image data from the outside. When the raster image data received by the reception unit 401 is compressed, the image expansion unit 402 expands the data. The transmission unit 404 transmits raster image data to the outside. When transmitting raster image data from the transmission unit 404, the image compression unit 403 performs data compression if necessary. The color processing unit 405 converts the raster image data expressed in RGB luminance into raster image data expressed in CMYBk density. The transparent toner processing unit 406 determines a toner loading amount for a region where the transparent toner is placed. The image synthesis unit 407 synthesizes the print image data and the image area information obtained by the image area separation unit 311 when a preview screen for selecting a transparent toner area, which will be described later, is displayed. The composite image is transferred to the UI operation unit 228 via the UI operation unit I / F 305 and displayed as a preview. The image formation processing unit 408 performs various image processing such as gamma processing, screen processing, and error diffusion processing performed before print image data is transferred to the printer 202. The other image processing unit 409 performs image processing such as rotation, scaling, and thinning used for the print function, copy function, and Send function.

(Transparent toner output processing during copying)
FIG. 4A is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of normal printing processing performed by the MFP 104 when the copy function is executed. The processing shown in FIG. 4 is performed, for example, by the CPU 309 reading out the program stored in the ROM 307 to the RAM 308 and executing it.

  When the copy function is started, first, the selection of the transparent toner mode by the user is accepted via the UI operation unit 228. Here, selection of a transparent toner use mode or a transparent toner non-use mode is accepted. Further, when the transparent toner use mode is selected, selection is made between a partial transparent toner mode in which the transparent toner is partially applied or a full transparent toner mode in which the transparent toner is applied over the entire print image (S401).

  When the mode is selected in S401, document scanning is started by the image scanner 201, and RGB raster image data is taken into the RAM 308 via the scanner I / F 301 (S402). Then, it is determined whether the mode selected by the user in S401 is a transparent toner usage mode or a transparent toner non-use mode (S403). If it is determined that the mode is the transparent toner use mode, it is further determined whether the mode is the partially transparent toner mode or the full transparent toner mode (S404). Here, in the case of the partially transparent toner mode, the process proceeds to a transparent toner area setting process (S405).

  FIG. 4B is a flowchart showing the procedure of the transparent toner area setting process in S405. In this processing, first, image area separation processing is performed on the captured raster image by the image area separation unit 311 (S4051). When image area separation processing is performed on the image data 500 shown in FIG. 5 using a conventionally known image area separation technique, for example, data including image area information (attributes) such as image data 501 is obtained. Among these, the image area 502 represents a character area, the image area 503 represents a photographic area, the image area 504 represents a line drawing area, and the image area 505 represents a background area. A character area, a photograph area, a line drawing area, and a background area are examples of attributes.

  After S4051, based on the obtained image area information, transparent toner area image data 506 representing an area on which the transparent toner is placed as shown in FIG. 6 is generated (S4052). This transparent toner area image data includes a dotted rectangle representing an area other than the background area. In the present embodiment, a photographic area is assumed as an image area on which the transparent toner is placed. However, placing the transparent toner on the photographic area is set as an initial setting. Therefore, the image area 507, which is a photographic area, is shaded to indicate that the transparent toner is set. The mesh line may be expressed in a form other than the mesh line as long as the user can distinguish and recognize that the area is set so that the transparent toner is placed on the preview display. For example, a method may be used that uses an animation and uses an expression in which the area shines with gloss. The same applies to the dotted line representing the image area other than the background area.

  When the transparent toner region image data 506 is generated, the transparent toner region image data 506 and the input image data 500 are combined by the image combining unit 407 of the image processing unit 310 to generate preview image data 508 (S4053). . The created preview image data 508 is displayed on the UI operation unit 228 via the UI operation unit I / F 305 as in the UI screen 601 of FIG. 6 (S4054).

  On the UI screen 601, in addition to the preview display of the image itself, the area where the transparent toner is placed is also clearly shown. Further, the MFP 104 can accept the user's selection of whether or not to put the transparent toner on the image area basis acquired in S4051 through the UI screen 601. When an image area that is set to place the transparent toner is designated, the MFP 104 sets so that the transparent toner is not placed on the image area. On the other hand, when an image area set so as not to place the transparent toner is designated, the MFP 104 sets so that the transparent toner is placed on the image area. The user simply selects the image area of the preview image displayed on the UI screen 601 as shown by the icon 602 in FIG. 6, and the user can set the transparent toner setting for the image area as in the image area 604 on the UI screen 603. Change instructions can be made easily. When “selected area” is designated as the area for specifying the area for increasing the glossiness, the setting is made so that the transparent toner is placed on the area that is set to place the transparent toner in each image area. To do. When the “selectable area” is pressed by the user, the MFP 104 controls to put transparent toner on all of the plurality of selectable areas. Further, when “select all” is pressed, the MFP 104 performs control so that the transparent toner is placed on the image area and an area other than the image area.

  When the user touches the transparent toner setting target image area 604, that is, when the transparent toner setting is changed, the process returns to the transparent toner area image generation processing in S4052 (S4055). Then, the transparent toner area image data 506 representing the area on which the transparent toner is placed is generated again, and preview image data 508 is generated and previewed. These series of processes are performed until the user presses the enter button or the cancel button on the UI screen 601.

  Again, when the area on which the transparent toner is to be placed is determined in the partially transparent toner mode as described above, the process returns to FIG. 4A, and color processing is performed in S406. In the color processing, luminance RGB raster image data captured from the image scanner 201 is converted into density CMYBk raster image data by the color processing unit 405. Conversion to the CMYBk signal is performed by matrix calculation as shown in Expression (1).

Formula 1

  In step S <b> 408, processing for generating print data for transparent toner to be printed using the transparent toner is performed. The color processing unit 405 uses the transparent toner processing unit 406 to calculate the transparent toner component from the CMYBk signal. First, based on the image area 507 set as the transparent toner area, it is determined for each pixel whether or not the pixel is a pixel on which the transparent toner is placed. The transparent toner amount CL is set to 0 for pixels on which the transparent toner is not placed. For the pixel on which the transparent toner is placed, the transparent toner amount CL is calculated by the following method.

  In the calculation, first, the total toner amount of CMYBk is obtained. Here, the total toner amount is the amount of toner transferred to the paper for each pixel by the total signal amount of the four colors CMYBk. Usually, the total toner amount is expressed as a percentage value where the maximum value of a single color is 100%. When the image signal is expressed by an 8-bit integer, the maximum value of a single color is 255, so the total amount of toner is obtained by multiplying the added value of CMYBk by 100/255.

  For example, assuming that an 8-bit image signal has C = 80, M = 95, Y = 140, and Bk = 110 for a certain pixel, the total toner amount can be obtained from Equation (2).

Total toner amount = (C + M + Y + Bk) × 100/255 = 167% (2)
Usually, a general upper limit of the total toner amount is about 200 to 280%, and is determined by an image forming process or the like. In the present embodiment, it is further required that the total amount after forming the transparent toner layer is not more than the upper limit value. Here, assuming that the upper limit value of the total toner amount is 240%, it can be considered that the difference between the numerical value of the formula (2) and the upper limit value is the density ratio allowed for the transparent toner layer. The capacity is obtained from equation (3).

Allowable amount = 240-167 = 73% (3)
The transparent toner amount CL for each pixel is determined within the allowable amount range. In this embodiment, the transparent toner amount is determined by the method of placing the transparent toner up to the maximum allowable amount, but the glossiness may be optimized by other methods.

  When the CMYBk and the transparent toner amount CL are determined, in step S409, the image processing unit 310 performs gamma correction processing on each color by the image formation processing unit 408. Further, image forming processing such as screen processing and error diffusion processing is performed for each color. Finally, in S410, image data is transmitted from the printer I / F 302 to the printer 202, and the MFP 104 prints an image using toners of CMYBk and CL.

  Here, the printing effect when the transparent toner is used will be described. The printing effect (gloss and matte) is related to the difference between the surface properties of paper and transparent toner. First, there is a difference between the surfaces of coated paper and non-coated paper. Since the surface of the coated paper is coated, there are very few irregularities. On the other hand, the surface of the non-coated paper is uneven due to the influence of paper fibers.

  When printing is performed on the paper by normal printing using transparent toner, the surface of the portion where the transparent toner is placed remains slightly uneven even after passing through the fixing unit 227 of the MFP 104. When normal printing with transparent toner is performed on coated paper, the coated paper surface has no irregularities, and the surface of the transparent toner has irregularities, so the printed portion (that is, the surface of the transparent toner) has a matte effect. Appears.

  On the other hand, when normal printing with transparent toner is performed on non-coated paper, both the paper and the transparent toner have irregularities on both surfaces. However, in general, since the unevenness of the surface of the non-coated paper is larger than the surface of the transparent toner, a gloss effect appears at the printed portion (that is, the surface of the transparent toner). That is, the calculation method of the transparent toner amount CL in the transparent toner processing in S408 needs to be changed depending on the type of printing paper. However, in this embodiment, a method for printing on non-coated paper is described as an example.

  Reference is again made to FIG. If it is determined in step S404 that the full transparent toner mode is selected, the transparent toner region setting process in step S405 is skipped because it is not necessary for the user to perform the transparent toner region setting described in step S405. . If it is determined in S403 that the transparent toner non-use mode is selected, all the processes related to the transparent toner in S405 and S408 are skipped. That is, the same color processing (S407) and image formation processing (S409) as in S406 are performed on the input image, and the process proceeds to the printing processing in S410 to execute printing. As described above, in this embodiment, the user can easily change the transparent toner area on the UI screen, and the user can perform unnecessary operations on the UI screen when the transparent toner mode is not selected. Can be reduced.

(Transparent toner output processing during printing)
Next, transparent toner output processing during printing will be described.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of normal printing processing performed by the MFP 104 when the printing function is executed. The process shown in FIG. 7 is executed by the CPU 309, for example. First, when the print function is started, the user selects the transparent toner mode on the PC 102 by using, for example, a printer driver (S701). Thereafter, an image print instruction is sent from the PC 102. As a result, the image data in the PDL format is transferred to the MFP 104 or the print server 103 (S702). If the PC 102 has a configuration for generating the transparent toner area image data 506 on the printer driver, the generated transparent toner area image data 506 may be transferred together with the image data in the PDL format. good. In this case, it is not necessary to perform the transparent toner area setting (S707) in the UI operation unit 228 on the MFP 104 side. In this embodiment, the printer driver of the PC 102 does not have a configuration for generating the transparent toner area image data 506, or the PC 102 and the MFP 104 are far away from each other, so that the MFP 104 needs to check or change the transparent toner area. Examples will be described.

  The PDL format image data transferred from the PC 102 or the print server 103 to the MFP 104 is subjected to PDL interpretation processing (S703) and raster development processing (S704) in the PDL processing unit 305 of the MFP 104. The developed image data is stored in a memory and used as image data for printing and image data for preview.

  Hereinafter, only the difference from the copy function described in FIG. 4 will be described up to the printing process (S712). In the transparent toner area setting (S405), when executing the copy function, the transparent toner setting area is selected based on the image area information acquired by the image area separation unit 311. On the other hand, during the print function, in the transparent toner area setting (S707), the transparent toner setting area is selected based on the object information included in the image data in the PDL format. That is, during the PDL interpretation process (S703) of the input PDL image data, the object area included in the PDL image data is extracted as a selectable area to be displayed on the preview screen of the UI operation unit 228. Based on the extracted area information, a transparent toner selection area is generated (S7101). At this time, the selectable area is, for example, an area surrounded by a dotted line shown in the image data 802 in FIG. As can be seen from comparison with the area information indicated by the dotted line portion of the image data 501 obtained by the image area separation process, it is possible to set a finer transparent toner area by using the object information.

  In color processing (S708, S709), RGB raster image data is input when the copy function is executed, but CMYK raster image data may be input when the print function is performed. In that case, the color processing unit 405 adjusts the density by arithmetic processing or the like.

  As described above, not only can the user easily change the transparent toner area on the UI screen even when the print function is executed, but the user on the UI operation unit 228 does not have the transparent toner mode selected. Unnecessary operations can be reduced.

(Transparent toner output processing during media printing)
Next, transparent toner output processing during media printing will be described.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of normal print processing performed by the MFP 104 when the media print function is executed. The process shown in FIG. 9 is executed by the CPU 309, for example. First, when the media print function is started, an image file is read from an external storage device such as an SD card or a USB memory connected to the external I / F 312. The read image file is decompressed by the image decompression unit 402 of the image processing unit 310 and scaled by the scaling processing module included in the other image processing unit 409 to generate a thumbnail image. The MFP 104 displays these thumbnail images on the UI screen as a screen 1001 shown in FIG. 10 (S901). Then, selection of an image to be printed by the user is accepted via the UI operation unit 228 on which the thumbnail image is displayed (S902). Next, the user selects a print page layout and a transparent toner mode (S903). The MFP 104 generates an output image from the image selected in S902 and S903 and the layout information by the scaling processing unit and the layout processing unit included in the other image processing unit 409, and previews on the UI screen like the screen 1002 It is displayed (S904).

  Here, in the preview display of the screen 1002, permission for layout OK is accepted by pressing the enter button from the user. Hereinafter, only the difference from the print function described in FIG. 9 will be described up to the printing process (S912).

  In the transparent toner area setting (S907), when the print function is executed, the user is allowed to select a transparent toner area based on the object information acquired by the PDL processing unit 305. On the other hand, during the media print function, in the transparent toner area setting (S907), the user is made to select a transparent toner area based on the layout information generated in S903. That is, like the image data 1102 in FIG. 11, the outer frame of each image laid out as a print image is set as a transparent toner area. Further, since the preview display in the transparent toner area setting (S707) is displayed in the transparent toner use mode, each image laid out as the initial setting is set with transparent toner as image data 1102 is set. It is desirable that As described above, even when the media print function is executed, the user can easily change the transparent toner area on the UI screen, and when the transparent toner mode is not selected, the user on the UI operation unit 228 Unnecessary operations can be reduced.

  In the above, the processing for efficiently performing the setting of whether or not the transparent toner is placed on each area of the image when executing the copy / print / media print functions has been described. That is, the transparent toner area image data is generated in accordance with the mode setting related to the transparent toner, and is combined with the input image data to display an image represented by the image data as preview image data. As a result, the user can set whether to use the transparent toner on the preview to give gloss.

  However, if the transparent toner area image includes many small display areas as in the screen 1201 of FIG. 12, the user may be forced to perform a complicated operation. For example, in the case of a copy function, when an area where the user does not want to put transparent toner is extracted, such as area 1202, and the setting for automatically placing transparent toner is selected, the user Must release this. However, the UI screen of the MFP 104 is often relatively small, and it is difficult to select an area such as the area 1202 using the UI operation unit 228. Further, when the number of such small areas is large as in the screen 1201, the number of selections increases, and the operation becomes extremely troublesome.

  When the above-described copy function is executed, if the transparent toner area acquired in the image area separation process (S4051) is a photographic area, the initial setting is to place all the transparent toner. However, there are many cases where the user does not need to give glossiness to an area smaller than a predetermined reference size in the photograph area. In many cases, an area determined as a photographic area in the image area separation process (S4051) is not a photographic area but an erroneous determination of a noise image placed on a scanned document.

  Thus, by setting the area smaller than the predetermined reference size as the initial setting so that the transparent toner is not placed, it is possible to save the user from having to clear the transparent toner setting for these small areas. In addition, an area smaller than a predetermined reference size may not be selected as an area on which transparent toner is placed in the first place. Further, a small region may be selected collectively by a drag operation on the UI operation unit 228, and the selection of the transparent toner settings may be canceled collectively.

  The “Release All” button in FIG. 12 is a button for performing a setting for setting so that the transparent toner is not placed on all regions. Such a button is provided in FIGS. 6 and 10. Also good.

  In addition, the MFP 104 according to the above-described embodiment has been described with respect to the example in which the selection of whether or not to place the transparent toner on the specified area is received via the UI screen 601. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an instruction for enlarging or reducing the range based on the specified area may be received via the UI screen 601. In that case, the user may enlarge or reduce the area by double-clicking and sliding the end of the area indicated by the broken line shown in FIG.

  The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

Claims (9)

Input means for inputting image data;
Identification means for identifying a plurality of regions included in the image data input by the input means;
A first setting unit configured to perform printing using a transparent recording material in a region designated by the user among the plurality of regions identified by the identifying unit;
A specifying means for specifying an area smaller than a predetermined reference size among the plurality of areas identified by the identifying means;
A second setting unit configured to set printing using a transparent recording material in a region excluding the region identified by the identifying unit among the plurality of regions identified by the identifying unit;
Control means for controlling to print using the transparent recording material in an area set to print using the transparent recording material by the first setting means or the second setting means;
An image processing apparatus comprising:   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of regions are obtained by dividing the image data into the plurality of regions by image region separation.   Display means for displaying the area set to be printed using the transparent recording material by the first setting means or the second setting means so as to be distinguishable from other areas. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of areas include a character area, a photograph area, or a line drawing area.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the input unit reads an image of a document and inputs image data indicating the image of the document.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the input unit inputs image data transmitted by an external apparatus.   The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the input unit inputs image data from an external storage device connectable to the image processing apparatus. A control method for an image processing apparatus, comprising:
An input process for inputting image data;
An identification step for identifying a plurality of regions included in the image data input in the input step;
A first setting step of setting to print using a transparent recording material in a region specified by the user among the plurality of regions identified in the identifying step;
Of the plurality of regions identified in the identification step, a specific step of identifying a region smaller than a predetermined reference size,
A second setting step for setting to print using a transparent recording material in a region excluding the region specified in the specifying step among the plurality of regions identified in the identifying step;
And a control step of controlling to print using the transparent recording material in an area set to print using the transparent recording material in the first setting step or the second setting step. And a control method for the image processing apparatus.   A program for causing a computer to execute each step of a control method for an image processing apparatus according to claim 8.

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